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	<title>Teaching The Outsiders (and more) &#187; Mailbag</title>
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	<link>http://teachingtheoutsiders.com</link>
	<description>Middle school teaching: Five shows a day, 180 days a year.</description>
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		<title>KBAR Part I</title>
		<link>http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/kbar-part-i/</link>
		<comments>http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/kbar-part-i/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Sep 2011 02:58:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>mrC</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[KBAR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mailbag]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reading]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/?p=2610</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was going to tell the whole story about how my KBAR program came to be (the granddaughter of the inventer of the name is in my class this year), but since it&#8217;s Wednesday and it&#8217;s ten minutes until eight, I&#8217;ll save the back-story for later and get right down to the nitty-gritty, as someone used to say sometime. Here&#8217;s a short version of how I deal with reading the responses and checking the charts. I ass-u-me (seventh graders love that one) that you have already familiarized yourself with the KBAR concept. What? Fine. Click the link. Then read the rest. I&#8217;ll be back, as our former governor used to say. This is from July, 2009&#8242;s mailbag. What is your experience with doing the KBAR notebook? I have found that during my student teaching, the students rarely turned in homework if I wasn’t checking it (worksheets or whatever) at the end of every week. Also, is it used just for KBAR work at home? I’m nervous about leaving them to do something at home on a notebook (that many of my students wouldn’t buy since it’s 75% free/reduced lunch). Any alternatives to that issue? During the first week of doing KBAR, I check daily, just to make sure they [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Mailbag: Writing.</title>
		<link>http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/mailbag-writing/</link>
		<comments>http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/mailbag-writing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:56:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>mrC</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[8th grade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mailbag]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/?p=2205</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We had today off for some reason. All hail Columbus the Conqueror! I was camping down at beautiful Refugio State Beach. 85 and postcard perfect, right down to the dolphins frolicking 50 yards from the beach. Anyway I&#8217;m back, and one of our loyal readers needs a bit of collaboration. I don&#8217;t know how many of you scroll down and read the comments unless you&#8217;re looking for a response to yours, so this might be a rerun for some. Hey Mr. Coward. A long time reader here, and I’ve also posted a few times. I still can’t believe you keep up on this great blog, posting materials for the kids, teaching both 7th and 8th graders and like, um, seem to still have a life. Sincere congrats. Anywho, I am looking for some advice. I plan on posting something on the listserver later today, but I thought you would be a good source to start since I’m typically on board with your ideas. I teach 8th grade language arts, and each quarter we have at least one major process writing piece. The other 3 quarters are pretty solid, but quarter one needs a revamp. According to the new common core [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>We might need a second page in the dictionary.</title>
		<link>http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/we-might-need-a-second-page-in-the-dictionary/</link>
		<comments>http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/we-might-need-a-second-page-in-the-dictionary/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Sep 2010 04:19:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>mrC</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mailbag]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Seventh Grade Behavior]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[three-word phrases]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/?p=2187</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[OMG. You people rock. Back in the day, when I started using the three-word phrase shtick in my back-to-school night gigs, I used to run through five or six for the parental units, just to illustrate my point about the way middle schoolers &#8220;communicate.&#8221; A couple of days ago, we were up to 16. Thanks to you, I think we&#8217;re headed for a top twenty instead of a top ten. 1. &#8220;It&#8217;s not fair.&#8221; &#8211; Used for anything they don&#8217;t like. 2. &#8220;This is boring.&#8221; &#8211; See #1. 3. &#8220;What&#8217;s my grade?&#8221; &#8211; &#8220;I am pretending I care.&#8221; 4. &#8220;What I miss?&#8221; &#8211; See #3. 5. &#8220;I don&#8217;t care.&#8221; &#8211; &#8220;I really do care, but I don&#8217;t think I can do anything about it.&#8221; 6. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know.&#8221; &#8211; &#8220;I might know, but can&#8217;t admit it, because then I would face consequences.&#8221; Or, if that is not the case, &#8220;I don&#8217;t even know what the question was.&#8221; 7. &#8220;I SAW you.&#8221; &#8211; &#8220;I can&#8217;t believe you exist outside the classroom.&#8221; 8. &#8220;I hate ____.&#8221; (math, you, cauliflower, etc.) &#8211; See #1. 9. &#8220;S&#8217;not my fault.&#8221; &#8211; &#8220;It really is my fault.&#8221; 10. &#8220;I&#8217;ve a question.&#8221; &#8211; &#8220;I really do (or [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>More Mailbag and a New Tom Sawyer Fan.</title>
		<link>http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/more-stat-padding-and-a-new-tom-sawyer-fan/</link>
		<comments>http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/more-stat-padding-and-a-new-tom-sawyer-fan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 May 2010 04:56:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>mrC</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mailbag]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tom Sawyer]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/?p=1950</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I like responding to comments over here. It gives me a little more room to &#8220;spread myself&#8221; as Mark Twain would say. That reminds me. We&#8217;re almost finished with Tom Sawyer, and I think more kids than usual are actually enjoying it. I had one kid come up to me at the Open House for my boy&#8217;s school (this kid&#8217;s alma mater last year), clutching his copy of TS. He wanted to laugh and talk about the Tom taking Becky&#8217;s punishment scene. There were several things that were unusual about that exchange: 1.  This boy is batting .480 in my class. (That&#8217;s 48% to you non-baseball people.) 2. He was three chapters ahead of the class. 3. He was getting most of MT&#8217;s irony, and about 80% of the language. 4. He  said, and I quote because it will forever be seared into my brain, &#8220;I&#8217;m liking this book so much that I think I might buy it when we&#8217;re done reading it in class.&#8221; I said he could keep that copy of the book when we&#8217;re done. Our department has 350+ copies in various states lying around. I think we can spare one. Especially since our sister school, the [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Classroom Mailbag II</title>
		<link>http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/classroom-mailbag-ii/</link>
		<comments>http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/classroom-mailbag-ii/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:31:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>mrC</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[classroom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grading papers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mailbag]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/?p=1943</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So it&#8217;s not tomorrow&#8230; First, a correction. During the photo tour of my classroom, I said that I thought I had moved in about 10 years ago. My how time does fly. It was 1996 when I moved into my present digs. My 7th graders weren&#8217;t even born yet. (Scary thought, that.) I even found a photo of the room from the morning before the first day of school back then. The principal at the time was really stoked on our newly remodeled facility. She even took pictures of the rooms that didn&#8217;t get remodeled. Look how tidy! And empty. (Click for full-size.) I showed the kids this pic today. They all thought it looked &#8220;boring.&#8221; &#8220;Where&#8217;s the Popple?&#8221; Onward&#8230; I am not one of those teachers who says that there are no lame questions. I believe that we junior high teachers get asked plenty of lame and stupid questions. My standard response to lame questions from my 7th graders is, &#8220;I&#8217;m going to pretend I didn&#8217;t hear that.&#8221; However, your question about the old &#8220;trade and grade&#8221; is definitely NOT lame. I&#8217;ve been wrassling (sic) with this for years. In fact, when I got my clickers a few years [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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